Self-starter for automobile-engines.



L. & C. M. HOWE. SELF SARTER FOR AUTOMOBILE ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2. I9l6.

Patented May15,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Q#CHARLES M. HowE LEE HOWE mit atbomu L. & C. M. HOWE.

SELF STARTER FOR AUTOMOBILE ENGINES.

APVPLICATION FILED FEB. 2, 1916- Patented May 151, 1917. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

CHARLES M4 HOWE LEE HOWE me mmm: "rens nu. Namur-Ha.. munmwm., .L

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@ETES PATENT FFQE.

LEE HOWE AND CHARLES lVI. HOWE, OF NEMAHA, IOWA.

SELF-STARTER FOR, AUTOMOBILE-EN GINES.

Application led February 2, 1916.

To @ZZ fr/0m t may Concern.'

Be it known that we, LEE Hown and CHARLES M. Hown, citizens of the United States, residing at Nemaha, in the county of Sac and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Self-Starters for Automobile-Engines, ofl which -the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

Our invention relates to starting devices for automobile engines, and particularly to that class of starters using compressed air as a motive fluid.

The primary object of our invention is the provision of a very simple means whereby air compressed by the automobile engine to a predetermined degree may be used for starting the engine, the means whereby this is accomplished being very simple and being' positive in its action.

A further object of the invention is the provision of means whereby the air compressing pump may be automatically stopped when a certain degree of compression has been reached.

Still another object is the provision of means whereby the air may be automatically admitted to that cylinder which is in position to receive the motive fluid by the depression of a pedally actuated valve.

A further object is to provide an improved valve controlling the passage of air to each one of the cylinders of the engine and to provide means for positively actuating said valve in time with the timing of the engine.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the forward portion of an automobile, showing the engine thereof, certain of the parts being in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation in dotted lines, of the forward end of an automobile showing the manner in which they operating shafts are engaged with the crank shafts;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional View of one of the spark plugs of a cylinder, showing the manner in which air is admitted to the cylinder;

Fig. 4l is a vertical sectional view of one of the valves controlling the admission of air to each cylinder;

Specification of Letters Patent.

ljatented llllay 15, 1917.

Serial No. 75,809.

Fig. 5 is an elevation showing the mechanism for disengaging the pump from its driving shaft when the pressure within the air reservoir has reached a certain predetermined degree;

Fig. 6 is a side view of the clutch partly in section;

Fig. 7 is a face view of the clutch.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to Fig. 1, it will be seen that we have illustrated in this figure the forward portion of an automobile of any desired chai'- acter and having an ordinary internal combustion engine comprising` four cylinders. The invention is adapted, however, to be applied to an engine having more or less cylinders. Each of these cylinders is designated A. The crank shaft of the engine is designated B and is of the usual form, the pistons of the several cylinders being connected to the crank shaft in the usual manner and this crank shaft carrying upon its extremity the pulley 10 operatively connected to the pulley 11 which operates the fan 12. Also carried upon the crank shaft at its forward end is a sprocket wheel 13. Extending longitudinally of the machine on one side of the cylinders A is a cam shaft 14, the forward end of which is provided with a sprocket wheel 15 over which passes the sprocket chain 16. EX- tending longitudinally along the engine is a shaft 17 which is the pump operating shaft and which is also provided with a sprocket wheel 18 with which the chain 16 engages as will be seen in Fig'. 2. Thus it will be seen that both of the shafts 14 and 17 are driven from the crank shaft of the engine and operatively connected thereto.

Disposed in any suitable position beneath the body of the machine, preferably rearward of the engine, is a compressed air reservoir 19, and also disposed rearward of the engine is a compression pumpQ() of any suitable type and connected by means of a pipe 21 to the reservoir 19. As before stated, the shaft 17 provides means for operating the pump, but it is obvious that after a certain degree of compression has been reached within the reservoir 19 the pump should be disconnected from its operating means, and to this end l have illustrated the pump as driven by means of a crank shaft 21, this crank shaft carrying the friction wheel 22. Connecting rods 23 connect.

the crank shaft 21 with the piston rods 24 of the pump. The shaft 17 at its rear end is flexible, and l have illustrated this shaft as made in two sections, the section 17 being connected by a universal joint to the section 17. The section 17'aL may, therefore, be shifted outward and away from the shaft 21. The shaft 17a carries upon it the friction wheel 26 and the friction wheels 22 and .2G are brought into frictional operative engagement with each otherl by means of springs 27 which normally engage the shaft section 17FL and draw it toward the shaft 21. To this end, as illustrated in Fig. 5, the shaft 21 is supported by means of a bracket 23 from a brace 29 extending from the top of the engine and attached thereto in any suitable manner. The shaft section 172L is connected by means of a pivoted link 30 to the extremity of the brace 29. 1t will be obvious now that the link 30 may be shifted relative to the link 28 and thus the friction wheels be shifted out of engagement. 1n order to automatically shift these wheels out of engagement when the pressure within the reservoir 19 rises beyond a predetermined point, l provide the chamber 31 which is connected by means of a pipe 32 with the reservoir, this chamber having therein a piston 33 which engages with the bearing 34 of the shaft section 17 "L. lhen the pressure rises within the chamber 19 beyond a predetermined degree, this piston 33 will be shifted outward and will engage the bearing and will shift it laterally to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5, thus disconnecting the air pump from its operating shaft. 1t will thus be seen that the friction wheels 22 and 26 together with the mechanism heretofore described, practically form an autoy, matically operated clutch which automatically engages the shaft 17 with the pump when pressure within the reservoir 19 is below a certain point, but automatically disengages the pump and its operating mechanism when the pressure rises beyond a predetermined degree.

In order to provide for carrying the compressed air from the tank or reservoir 19 to the several cylinders, l provide a manifold 35 which extends alongside of the several cylinders and is connected at intervals by branches 36 to the cylinders by means of valve casings 37 illustrated in detail in Fig. 4. Each valve casing has a pipe 38 leading from it which extends into a hollow spark plug base or casing 39 illustrated in Fig. 3. do not wish to be limited to this, however, nor any particular form of spark plug. The spark plug is designated 40,*and preferably the casing 39 is larger than the plug 4() and the branch pipe 38 enters the side wall of this casing. A check valve 38fL is disposed in the pipe 38.

Each valve casing 37 comprises a main n body in line with the branch pipe 38 and a laterally projecting chamber 41, and between the chamber 41 and the main body of the valve is a seat 42 for a ball valve 43 which is normally held to the seat by means of aV spring 44. When so held the ball valve will project into the main body 37 and project to a certain extent across the path of movement of the plunger 45 mounted within the main body, this plunger having a rounded head 46 which may engage with the ball valve 43. The plunger is normally held retracted by means of a spring 47 which surrounds the projecting end of the plunger and bears against the head 48. rlhis head is disposed in the path of movement of a cam 49 mounted upon the cam shaft 14. When the cam engages with the head 48 the plunger will be forced upward and will engage with the globular valve 43 forcing it inward and opening communication between the chamber 41 and the interior of the casing 37. Under these circumstances, compressed air can pass from the manifold 35 into the cylinder through the space surrounding the spark plug 40. rlhe cams 49 are timed with the cams which operate the inlet valves of the engine so that whenever an inlet valve is closed the valve 43 will be opened as will be later explained.

For the purpose of establishing communication between the reservoir 19 and the manifold 35, l conduct the manifold 35 into a valve casing 50 which may be constructed. in the same manner as the valve shown in Fig. 4. Upon a depression of the plunger 45a of the valve 50 compressed air will be allowed to pass from the reservoir 19 into the manifold 35 and from this manifold to any cylinder, the valve 43 of which is opened. The compressed air will act upon the piston of that particular cylinder, causing the piston to move downward in the same manner as if an explosion had taken place within the cylinder, and it is obvious that if the valve 50 is left open long enough all of the cylinders will be submitted in turn to the action of the compressed air. It is obvious, however, that turning the engine over will be sufficient to draw in an explosive charge into one or more of the cylinders and this explosive charge will be ignited by the usual igniting mechanism, whereupon the engine will continue to operate. As soon as this has been accomplished the pressure on the plunger 45u is released, cutting olf communication with the compressed air. The engine will now operate under its own power and the pump will operate to force compressed Vair into the tank 19 until the pressure has reached a predetermined point, which will act to .disconnect the pump from its operating shaft.

1n Fig. 1 we have illustrated diagrammatically the positions ofthe exhaust and iso CJD

inlet valves of the several cylinders and have shown the manner in which the valves 43 are timed. Thus in the cylinder to the extreme right of Fig. l, both the inlet and the exhaust valve are closed, and of course the corresponding valve 43 is closed. ln the second cylinder to the left the exhaust valve is closed and the intake valve is opened. ln the next following cylinder both the exhaust and inlet valves are closed and the valve 43 is open and in the cylinder farthest to the left the intake valve is closed while the exhaust valve is opened. The valve 43 is so timed that the compressed air enters each cylinder just after the piston has reached the upper end of the cylinder and commences to move downward on the working stroke and the valve closes just before the piston reaches the lower extremity of its movement. This valve motion is repeated in each cylinder in the firing order of the cylinders.

it is obvious that connections 51 may be made from the reservoir or tank 19 to flexible pipes adapted to be connected to the tires so that the tires may be blown up without the necessity of using a special tire pump. Further, it is obvious that the cylinder 1.9 may connect with a pressure gage 52 on the dash whereby the pressure within the cylinder may be at all times noted.

fn order to provide for the disconnection of the cam shaft 14 from the power trans mitting mechanism thereof after the engine has started and reached a predetermined speed, and the automatic connection of the cam shaft with the power transmittin mechanism when the engine has slowec down to a predetermined speed and stopped, we provide the clutch illustrated in Figs. G and 7. As illustrated in these gures and in Fig. l, the shaft 14 is in two sections. One of these sections carries upon it the disk 52, while the other section carries upon it the dis; 58. The disk 52 is mounted upon that section of the shaft which carries the sprocket wheel l5, and pivotally mounted upon this disk 52 is an arm 54 carrying at its end a governor ball 55 which may be globular in form or of any other suitable shape, and resisting the outward movement of the arm 54 is a spring 56. The outer face of the disk 53 is formed with a socket 57 into which the head 55 of the governor arm is adapted to seat when the governor arm moves inward under the influence of the spring 56.

lNith this construction it is obvious that when the speed of the engine increases beyond a predetermined degree the governor arm will move outward and disconnect the head or bolt 55 from the disk 53. Thus the movement of the cam shaft stops. lNhen, however, the speed of the engine is slackened below alpredetermined extent the governor ball will move inward and eventually engage with the socket 57, thus again operatively connecting the two sections of the shaft 14. nasmuch as there is only one socket in the disk 53 and inasmuch as the governor moves in time with the crank shaft, it is obvious that the cam shaft will always be in properl timing relation to the crank shaft when the governor ball comes to rest in the socket.

Having described the invention, what we claim is:

l. In a mechanism of the character described, a valve casing including chambers disposed at right angles to each other there being a valve seat at the intersection of the chambers, a spring` actuated valve disposed in one of said chambers and when in a closed position bearing against the seat and having a rounded portion projecting into the other chamber, and a plunger operating in 'the other chamber and adapted to engage said rounded portion of the valve to force it from its seat.

2. In a self-starting system for automobiles, the combination with a cylinder, of a manifoldrleading from a source of compressed air, a valve casing connected to the cylinder and the manifold and includirug chambers disposed at right angles to each other, one of said chambers having a valve seat, a spring actuated valve disposed in one of said chambers and when in a closed position projecting into the other chamber, a plunger operating in the other chamber and adapted to engage said valve to force it from its seat, means for urging the plunger out of engagement with the valve, and power-operated means for intermittently reciprocating the plunger.

3. rEhe combination with an automobile engine comprising a plurality of cylinders, pistons operating in the cylinders and a crank shaft connected thereto, of a compressed air tank disposed rearward of the engine, a compression pump disposed rearward of the engine and operatively connected to the tank, a pump driving shaft operatively connected at one end to the crank shaft and at its rear end formed with a jointed section, a friction wheel mounted upon said shaft section, a driven friction wheel with which said first friction wheel engages, springs holding the friction wheels in engagement, and means for shifting said friction wheels out of engagement comprising a casing connected to the reservoir or tank and a piston therein and adapted to engage with said shaft section to shift it away from the driven friction wheel when the pressure within the reservoir rises beyond a predetermined degree, and means for establishing communication between any one of said cylinders and the reservoir.

4. The combination with an internal combustion engine including a plurality of cylinders, of means for starting the engine including a' compressed air reservoir, a manifold extending therefrom, manually operable means permitting the entrance of air into the manifold and automatically operated means for establishing communication between the manifold and the several cylinders in accordance with the timing of the pistons for the several cylinders comprising valves, one for each cylinder', a cam shaft,

cams thereon operating said Valves, the cam shaft being made in two sections, means for transmitting the power from the crank shaft to one of the sections of the cam shaft, and a clutch automatically engaging both sections of the cam shaft with each other but thrown out of operation upon an increase of the speed of the engine beyond a predetermined point.

5. The combination with an internal combustion engine including a plurality of cylinders, of means for starting the engine including a compressed air reservoir, a manifold extending therefrom, manually operable means permitting the entrance of air into the manifold and automatically operated means for establishing communication between the manifold and the several cylinders in accordance with the timing of the pistons for the several cylinders comprising valves, one for each cylinder, a cam shaft, cams thereon operating said valves, the cam shaft 'being made in two sections, means for transmitting the power from the crank shaft to one of the sections of the cam shaft, and a clutch automatically engaging both sections of the cam shaft with each other but thrown out of operation upon an increase of the speed of the engine beyond a predetermined point, said clutch comprising oppositely disposed disks, one of said disks being formed with a socket and a governor arm pivotally mounted upon the other disk and having a centrifugally actuated head at its extremity normally seating in said socket and connecting the two sections of the shaft when the engine is running below a predetermined speed.

In testimony whereof we hereunto affix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

C. C. LINDSAY, y C. D. DEPPE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

